The Vase - Book revised

As the second book I had written, The Vase had already undergone several revisions. It was my first book to be revised with the lessons I learned from a real editor. Meaning not just a Beta reader. The editor was from the now defunct publisher Penumbra Publishing, and the lessons were vital to my future as a novelist. And with five novels under my belt at this point, it was indeed vital.

It's true that Melange - the publisher for my first book, Killer of Killers - advised me on much of what the Penumbra editor taught me. But it was Penumbra that really drilled the lessons home. And from that point on I became a much better novelist - an author who writes novels.

I went back and applied those lessons to Killer of Killers, of course, and Melange was gracious enough to allow me to do that. And since Penumbra folded, I have been going back over The Vase, time and again, revising and revising, improving the prose, and yes, even making better judgment calls on the original edits.

The Vase is being rewritten, not only in the application of the lessons I learned, but with the original intent on how the story unfolds. The editor had his own ideas, and applied them to a small degree to my story line. I made it back into the way I wanted it, with one exception. I had originally intended for Professor Weiss to relay his version of the climactic events in a flashback scene, as if the reader was experiencing the event "live". But the editor wanted the events "told" by the professor after Captain Mathias caught up to him and asked him what happened.

I think that was the better option. And the reason is because the events Weiss relays contain some controversial, or even questionable, occurrences, and when those controversial and/or questionable occurrences are told after the fact, then the reader can use his or her own judgment as to whether those event really happened the way the professor told them to the captain.

Otherwise, the reader will be experiencing the events as did Professor Weiss, and they would be more akin to seeing it as what really happened, and then there would be no questionable aspect involved.

So yeah, the editor did contribute much to that book, not only in teaching me all the current rules for writing a novel, but made the right call for that particular post climax scene.

And as I revise The Vase for the umpteenth time I am greatly improving the prose, making every single paragraph on every single page the best writing as humanly possible. It's truly a work of art at this point. I can't wait to resubmit to publishers when I'm finally done. Multiple publishers had accepted it for publication in its original state. Cant wait to see the results when I submit it now that it's a vastly superior book to what it was then.

Heart of a Zulu and Second Chance already better

Since I've been revising and/or re-editing, and/or rewriting The Vase, Heart of a Zulu, and Second Chance, they are already tons better. One of the reasons is that I redid all the things my previous editors didn't want in there. For Second Chance that includes a few scenes or a few parts of a few scenes. For John Dunn, it only includes rearranging some parts, and for Second Chance it includes returning an entire scene in the beginning.

They were still great, but in my opinion, they're better and it's because they are back to the way I wanted them to be. Of course when you go over something again after a while, you always think of new ways to make it better and that's especially true for a novel. I'm making the story and the writing a lot better for the John Dunn book because I'm thinking of new ways to make it better.

For one thing, I made a bigger deal with Dunn's acquisition of the Snider breech-loading rifle than I did at first. And I made note of another Zulu chieftain who appears in the beginning and ending. I put him in the middle too, so as not to have forgotten about him, only to see him return in the end.

In Second Chance, the initial scene that shows Tony in the alley is returned. The story ends with him in the alley, and in the way it was published the reader is surprised to find him there. But now it's back and the reader will know why he's there in the end because it's where he was at the start. At the story's conclusion we return to the scene, so to speak.

With The Vase, there were all sorts of changes that I changed back to the way I wanted them. For example, when Captain Mathias and Mary Levin fight the terrorists, I had it so that the terrorists had found Mary's gun and threw it off into the night before they engaged her in a fight. That had been deleted. But now it's back and better than ever.

So yeah. For the next few months, I will keep on making these three books better. But heck, they're already much better. Well, they'll be getting better still. All the better!

Galley Revisited - No More 'Something'

By saying no more something in the title to this post, I mean that I made sure yesterday that there was no more 'something' in the Galley that needed changing. Yesterday, Dana advised me that she was going to proceed with the John Dunn publication, and to make sure that all changes to the Galley were final. That gave me one last chance to revisit the Galley, and boy was I glad I did.

Talk about always something. There were a few somethings. Realizing I was on my last chance to make sure the manuscript was as I wanted it to be, I checked out the places I had seen that I thought I might have wanted to write differently, and I made them all just right. That means adding a couple new sentences or partial sentences, and changing some words here and there.

Total changes amounted to 16 I think. Which is about 8 more than before. Literally doubled. So, yeah, now the manuscript is flawless. Until that pesky typo pops up. That's almost a given. But maybe not. After all, Killer of Killers has no typos. But that was after a second edition had to be released. Before that, there were typos and errors everywhere. And that won't do for a perfectionist. As I am. And as a perfectionist, I've made sure that the John Dunn manuscript is perfect. If Dana makes all the changes, that is. I expect that she will. And I look forward to seeing the book in print.

I know that there are a lot of Zulu War enthusiasts out there. They are the British equivalent to the American Civil War enthusiasts. But that doesn't mean there aren't American Zulu War enthusiasts, and enthusiasts from other countries, too. It seems the one country that remains non enthusiast is the country in which the war was fought. South Africa. I suppose there are a lot of reasons for that. None of which I want to discuss here and now.

Because for here and now, what I'm looking forward to is the soon to be released book, John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. It's a fascinating story, and a terrific read. Can't wait. Look for it in July. That's just a couple more months. But those couple months will pass, and the day will come.

Galley was good, but there's always something

Like I said, there's always something, and the more you look the more you find. First I found the space in the word presented. Then I found a missing end quote. Today I found an indentation that was further than the normal. Anyone might consider these to be typical typos. But the funny thing is, all three of these "typos" were not in the file I sent from which the PDF file was converted.

I guess things like that happen, which is why the author is supposed to check for it. In the process of checking, I found the name Utshingwayo used twice before he was supposed to be introduced to the story, and before that I found an s was used for the plural of the word  Zulu in a dialogue where the language was isiZulu. I advised Dana of all these in the hopes that she will correct them before the printing begins.

Actually, I haven't advised her yet of the indentation error. I will wait on that until tomorrow, because today I already sent an email about the name Utshingwayo. If that can be changed to the name Qetuka, it will be fine. But I don't want to inundate her with more than one email in a day, so I'll wait until tomorrow for the indentation thing.

And since tomorrow is the last day of April, and the day all files are supposed to be completed, I'm hoping all corrections will be made and I can be confident the John Dunn book is error-free once and for all, and ready for printing.  Fingers crossed for that.

I really will be satisfied if the John Dunn book is as error-free as my Killer of Killers book. And all before it's publication, too. It took a second edition for the Killer of Killers book to be error-free. But I'm okay with that. I'm a perfectionist. As all artists are, or should be. And being so, I take pride in my art being perfect. Whether it's a book, a painting, drawing, or sculpture, or a musical composition, it's perfection for which I strive. Nothing less.

Because in art, perfection can be achieved. And if the artist isn't driven to achieve it, then why the heck would anyone want to check it out? They wouldn't. Without total commitment to his or her art, said art is not worth checking out. Whether it's a drawing, painting, sculpture, book, or song. That's the way it is, and that's the way it should be.

John Dunn Book Edited and Submitted

Well, it's finally completed. Everything. Revisions, edits, submission, everything. Last night I completed the last of the edits that I received from my publisher yesterday and submitted it back to her at 12:15 a.m. Then I went to bed so as not to be a zombie at work today. Which means there's no more work to be done on John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. And after about four years in the making, it's been a long time coming. Maybe five years. That's a long time. Not that it was all spent on John Dunn. No. I worked on pretty much every book during that time. But for the last year, at least, it was the John Dunn book and Second Chance that had my focus.

Back to writing another book? Not really. I'm getting back into my music right now. I have some music that I composed about fifteen years ago, other than the music to the lyrics posted on this blog, that I want to rearrange and see if I can't get it rerecorded and converted into a digital format. Then one day, maybe get a band to play them. I wonder if there's a "music" agent who finds a band to play your songs, like a literary agent finds a publisher to publish your books.

I don't suppose there is. Sure I Googled "music agents" but from what I learned, music agents are mostly people who find gigs for bands, like clubs or such where they might perform for cash. Or they are managers who do the same thing, but also try to find bands a recording contract. I don't want either of those. What I want is an "agent" to find a recording artist who might be interested in recording the songs I've already written. I'm not much of a performer myself. I would just like to be the composer for some other musicians to perform my songs.

But from what I can gather, there is no such type of "music" agent. Too bad. Still, the band plays on, and so will I...

Dunn Book Being Edited

Well, it is happening. Dana emailed me yesterday and told me she is editing the book right now. She said some heartening words about it and I replied to tell her that. But since it is being edited right now, I can expect it back very soon. As early as today or tomorrow.

I probably did work harder on this book than any other. Too many things had to be accurate and authentic. Meaning I can't have a character in one part of the land and in another part during the same day, especially if it takes four days to get there by horseback or wagon ride. I had to be sure I had the correct time lapses down.

So much research was involved, but that is par for the course in the writing of any book. For my killer books I had to research all kinds of martial arts moves, philosophies, beliefs, and weapons. I had to research biochemistry for Killer of Killers and nuclear medicine for Killer Eyes. I had to research Judaism and Islam for The Vase. I even had to research defensive football schemes for my Second Chance book.

But I think anyone could see why a true story needs the most research. Especially a true story that involves real people and a real historical war. But it's done and it's being edited. I look forward to completion. That will be a day to celebrate. Can't wait.

New Publication Date Revealed

John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu will be published in July. That was the news I received yesterday from my publisher. I will keep everyone who reads this blog advised as the events unfold. As of now, I'll be expected to have the manuscript ready by this week, so that editing may occur. Revisions are supposed to be completed by the end of May. That is revisions suggested at the time of editing. And then in May, I believe advanced Kindle copies will be available for anyone who wants to be a reviewer.

I look forward to all of it. And now more than ever am I glad that I've been spending these last few months going over and over the manuscript, improving the prose, improving the authenticity, and improving every aspect of the story line. That means timelines, travel times, and anything else that has to do with consistency, and all of it equally important.

I hope to send the completed manuscript by this weekend. And then sometime in April, I'll be getting the edited version to revise as per editing suggestions. And you, the readers of this blog will be privy to the entire process. Stay tuned.

John Dunn Book Still In The Works

Just want to let everyone know that the John Dunn book is still in the works. I mentioned in an earlier post that my publisher has fallen behind in their publishing schedule, and I also noted that that was a good thing as far as my John Dunn book is concerned. You never want to rush a publication. Never. I felt Second Chance was rushed a bit, even though it got delayed a couple weeks itself.

But there were a couple minor errors in it and one somewhat major continuity error. It's weird how that happens. I must have read it twenty plus times, and it was edited, as well, but still that one continuity error went unnoticed until after publication and my brother bought and read the book and pointed it out to me. How he could catch it in a single reading and I couldn't after twenty is baffling to me to say the least. Ultimately, it's still a great read, and the one continuity error doesn't ruin the story.

For my John Dunn book, this current delay has proven to be a boon, because I've caught some errors and fixed them, right up to yesterday. I found two misspellings of the mission station Eshowe. Anyone who knows anything about Zululand and the Zulu War knows about Eshowe. But yesterday, I found a place where it was spelled Eschowe. Ouch. Of course I fixed it back to Eshowe, but then I used the "search" app to see if there was anywhere else where I might have spelled it Eschowe, and there was one more place it was misspelled. It's fixed now.

And the usual improvement in prose continues every time you read through it. Needless to say, the writing is tons better at this point. It ranks up there with the finest writing I've ever done, and I think it will hold it's own for all stories concerning the Zulu War and any Historical Fiction book for that matter. It's a true story, after all, and hopefully the editing will begin soon. I'm thinking it will be released early in 2017. Which is right around the corner. Can't wait.

Edits Haven't Started

Edits for my John Dunn book haven't started yet, but that doesn't mean I haven't been taking every opportunity to make the writing better. I blogged about a couple things I've made better already, and twice now I've sent an improved version for editing.

I decided rather than sending every version at the time of improvement, I will send the revised version every Monday. That way I won't inundate my publisher with a new manuscript every day. I figure once a week is not too often. And besides, everyday would be too much work for me, too.

But weekly improvements until the editing begins sounds reasonable. At least it does to me. I don't know why anyone would have a problem with that. I've already learned to make the manuscript better while you can. You do it before it's published. And for my John Dunn book that means now. I have less than a month before John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu is due to be released. So that's enough time if I use the time well. It's so close to being ready, I believe it's going to be a great book.

And even at the point of editing, I'll still get another chance to make it better. That's what editing is all about. Dana let me know when she was getting ready to start the editing for Second Chance. I'm counting on her doing the same for John Dunn. Hopefully, it will be on a Tuesday, the day after I send the next improved version. We'll see.

John Dunn was 100% Scottish Descent

Paying extra attention to improving the John Dunn manuscript has paid off.  I had referred to Dunn as being half Scottish and half English, which was wrong. He is 100% Scottish descent. I had read during my research that Dunn's father immigrated to South Africa from Scotland. But I found no reference to his mother's origins. Until yesterday. I read on some Internet website that both of Dunn's parents were Scottish immigrants.

At first I thought the writer of that article had made a mistake. Dunn's mother's name was Anne Harold Biggar, so to make sure I Googled the national origin of the surname "Biggar" and sure enough, it's a Scottish name. With further research I learned Dunn's mother was born in Scotland and immigrated to South Africa with her parents in the year 1820. So there you have it. Both of John Dunn's parents were born in Scotland.

I've made all the necessary corrections in the manuscript now. There were only two references in there regarding Dunn's parent's ethnicity. The first reference is when I introduce the main character, John Dunn early in the story, I had referred to him as the son of a Scottish immigrant. I've changed that to the son of Scottish immigrants. And later on, when Dunn meets with Lord Chelmsford, (he had two meetings with Chelmsford in real life, and they are both in the story,) Chelmsford inquires to Dunn's British ancestry, after which Dunn now says, "My parents were born in Scotland." Before I had Dunn say that his mother was English, his father a Scot. But it's all corrected now and good to go, at least insofar as that particular point.

I will still improve the manuscript daily and send the improved version every Monday until Dana advises me that edits are underway. Until then, I'll use the time wisely. While I can.

John Dunn Submitted for Editing

Here's the latest news on the publishing front. Last Monday, my publisher, Dana, (and also my editor, at least for Second Chance she was my editor,) emailed me, requesting I send the revised manuscript of John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu for editing. Well, I wasn't quite finished with the revisions. I had been busy revising Second Chance over the summer, putting only intermittent time into the revisions for John Dunn. And it's as I should have, because the release date for Second Chance preceded that of John Dunn. But the John manuscript is a lot longer than the manuscript of Second Chance, and therefore takes a lot longer to revise. In addition to that, the fact that John Dunn is historical fiction based on a true story, it needed a lot more checking for accuracy regarding dates, distances, and characters, both real and fictitious. There was more effort involved in that one.

Which is one reason why I think it's my best book ever. Well, I still hold Killer of Killers as my sentimental favorite. But the John Dunn book should make a splash in sales if for no other reason than there are a lot of Zulu War enthusiasts out there, and the book deals with the Zulu War in no small way. In fact the latter half of the book is almost all about the Zulu War. Four of the six major battles of the war are depicted in the story. Fortunately, my story follows more than just the John Dunn character, as other characters who were in the battles are featured. John Dunn did fight in one of the major battles of the Zulu War. The Battle at Gingindlovu, in which he contributed in a big way.

So I look forward to the edits Dana, or whoever it is this time, will suggest. I was pleased overall with the edits for Second Chance, so no reason to think I won't be for John Dunn. Can't wait.

Gotta Wait, but use the time well

I'm in the midst of waiting for the release of Second Chance; a Football Story. Next week, I believe, it will be available. Which is just as well. Football season is underway, and football is everywhere. Colleges are playing, high schools are playing and even the Youth leagues are underway. Now with week one of the NFL imminent, my football story should be entering the market right as football fans are cheering their teams to victory.

In the meantime, I am still improving John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. Just as I did for Second Chance, keep making it better while you have the time to do it. Just last night I found a small error. Not really an error, but it was a time goof. Well, which is an error. It was at the "Ultimatum Tree" on the Lower Drift of the Tugela River, John Dunn had just told his Zulu friends that it was too late to return to their capital at Ulundi, and to just stay at his place at eMangeti for the night because it was close by. But he wouldn't be with them. Instead he was going to ride to Durban.

Okay. So far so good. But then I had Dunn arriving in Durban by dusk. Which is a time goof. Durban was about 40 miles away from the Lower Drift, and on horseback that's a good twelve hour ride, probably more. So if it was already too late to travel to Ulundi, (which the Zulus did on foot by the way,) no way would Dunn make it to Durban by dusk on horseback. But it was an easy fix. I just had to change one word. I changed 'dusk' to 'morning'. Which means Dunn rode through the night, and made it to Durban by morning. Not writing the exact time he arrived in Durban leaves room for the sticklers to be content that he could have reached Durban by midmorning, late morning, whatever. It's no longer a time goof.

It's just an example how continued proofreading is always a good idea. Not only do you find and correct typos, but you catch time goofs like that and other similar errors that are easy enough to fix.  But if you don't find them, you can't fix them. So you take care of business. And you have a great book. Can't wait for both books to come out. Stay tuned.

Second Chance Release Date now Sept 13th

Second Chance is being printed as of today. I was advised by my publisher that the release date will be September 13th.  I know the original release date was today, but Sept. 13 will be fine. I expect all the edits will be finished, and the book will be flawless. As a book should be.

I can pick up almost any book from anywhere--libraries, bookstores, or wherever, and I will find typos. Even from a long time ago, in the days before computers. And strangely enough, in the computer age it seems typos happen more frequently than ever before. I think it's because publishers rely more on computers than human editors.

And the problem with that is that computers won't catch things that can't be programmed into them. For instance, a word might be misspelled, but a computer might not detect it. The word could be spelled correctly in another context, so it remains misspelled. It's one example of many.

And because the publisher wants to save money by not using editors, or by making shortcuts in other ways, those typos remain. But I made it so that my first book, Killer of Killers, has no typos, so I know it's possible to have a book with no typos. And I'm pretty darn sure that Second Chance has no typos. Dana did find one in her edits. But it's corrected now. It was just an extra apostrophe that was added in there somewhere.

So this coming Sept 13th, please take the time to buy Second Chance, a Football Story. I think you'll enjoy the story. The writing is some of my best, since it's really the latest sample of writing I've put out there. Even though John Dunn is being published after Second Chance, I actually wrote it way before Second Chance. Stay tuned.

Football, the Greatest Sport

For me, football is the greatest team sport. It's the greatest game, period. I have always had a passion for football. I played whenever I could. I would rather be on a football field, playing football, even in a sandlot game, than anywhere else and doing anything else. That's what football meant to me. My wife thinks I should have been a football coach. And I did dabble in it for a bit.

It's weird that my own high school football experience was cut short, but that's another story from a long and distant past. The story that is current, which is the story that has me excited, is my new upcoming novel called Second Chance. It's not a biography, no. I didn't do any of those things in the novel. But I did dream the story. You see, for forty years I had been having a  recurring dream about football. Particularly high school football. Not necessarily of things I did back then. More like things I might have done if I had been a wiser teenager.

I don't suppose I'm the only person who could have done things better as a teenager. But I continued to have dreams about football that might have or could have been. And one day I had a dream about a football player who gets a second chance. It wasn't me. It was a dream, but it was a dream as if I was watching a movie. And when I woke up, I thought to write it all down. After doing that, I thought to myself that it was about time I wrote my fifth novel, and it was going to be about football -- more specifically about the football dream I had. And I did.

I had procured a publisher for my book John Dunn - Heart of a Zulu, and when I mentioned that I had just completed a sports novel about a football player, my publisher was interested in publishing that, too. And because football starts in August, that was the date my novel was pegged to be released. Even ahead of the John Dunn novel.

So I've been working very hard on it the last couple months, and I'm glad I have been. Because I'm not a newbie when it comes to getting published. I've already learned to go over and over and over that manuscript before it's published. And I have. And Second Chance - A Football Story is as pristine a manuscript as you can get. I won't say it's perfect. Typos have a way to stay hidden. So I will read it one more time and submit it on Monday for this August's publication.

I'm very pleased at this point. Because after this, I have my John Dunn book to polish up. Even though it's already polished up. Doesn't mean it can't be more polished up. Gang way!

Second Chance almost ready

My football novel, Second Chance is almost ready. I've been going at it full steam for the last month and a half, revising, editing and proofreading over and over and over again.

And it's one of the most polished books I've ever seen at this point. I dare say all typos have been discovered and corrected. There are no inconsistencies or time mistakes, meaning no more chronological errors. I found them all. Fixed them all. And I'll go over it again today.

I plan on sending it this weekend or early next week. I know I've sent other files of it before, but those files were full of errors. I learned this with my first book. You don't wait to see if it needs fixing. You fix it right away. And that's what I'm doing right now.

I've been thinking of covers. I looked up some stock photos and found some good ones. The number of the character's jersey in the book is 24, so I'm hoping the cover designer can change the photo numbers to 24. If not, I'll have to go over the book again and change the number. Which is no big deal. So here's some possible cover ideas:

This is one of my preferences. If the number can be changed to 24, I might very well choose this for the cover. It's a photo that strikes me. The player conveys confidence here. And that's Tony Belmont all the way. Tony Belmont is the football player who is the main character in Second Chance. He's a great player. Particularly a great defensive back. He's a great athlete, and he knows his football. He's better than all of his friends, and he's well respected for his great football skills.

So why didn't he play in college or the pros? Because he didn't even play his senior year in high school. He was injured. And for years he regretted it. He has a recurring dream that he didn't miss it. But he did. And then one day he is confronted with an offer to have a second chance. Thus the name of the book. Second Chance - a Football Story. And there's a lot of football in it. So if you like football, this book is for you.

Let's look at some other possible covers.

This is another photo that I could go with. It has the same feel as the one above. Again, I hope they could change the number to 24. I would think a designer could do that.

I like the other one better, though. I like the way the other one is slightly turned. This one has the guy facing you squarely. Something about that isn't right. I guess it's not the way a DB would line up against a wide receiver at the line of scrimmage.

But if the guy was going to make a tackle he would. So I suppose that would work. Although this guy is not preparing to make a tackle. You never would be standing straight up like this to make a tackle. You'd get bowled over if you did.

Anyway, it's a good photo, and it could work.

Let's look at some others.

This one has a lot going for it. There's no number visible on the jersey, so that problem is eliminated. The player here conveys confidence, like the players in the other photos. I like the lights behind him. And I like that he has a football in his hands.

Actually, the more I look at this photo, the more I like it. I think I'll send all three to Knox Robinson, and tell them I would approve any of them.

What else is there? Let's see.

Well, I like this one. But wait a minute. That's my son right there. It's a photo of my son, Mark Anthony, during his Junior year in high school. He was a great running back. He was fast, agile, great hands, great moves, and had great vision. He was strong enough to bulldoze through the strongest defensive line, but he was also fast enough to outrun the fastest defensive backs. Speaking of speed, he had more breakaway runs than any runner I had ever seen. It was just as possible for him to break an 80 yard run for a TD as it was for him to bust through a linebacker for a tough first down. His Senior year, he was his team's MVP, and the league's Offensive Player of the Year.

Well, that's all for now. Time to get back to making sure the manuscript is ready to send. Look for Second Chance, a Football Story coming this summer at a bookstore near you. Or just check out this blog. I'll have a link to the purchase page. And there's always Amazon.com.

Revisiting Second Chance

I finished with the read through of John Dunn - Heart of a Zulu, and needless to say, it's better than ever. I found very few typos, maybe one or two, but I did improve the prose somewhat, which is inevitable whenever you read through a manuscript with the intent to make it better. Most importantly, I added those two elements to make the story more believable. (The rifle scope and the reference to Shepstone being knighted.) So I'm with the mind that it's ready for publication after the editing takes place with Knox Robinson.

As for Second Chance - A Football Story, which is scheduled to be published first, I'm revisiting that one again. Meaning I'm reading through it page by page, word by word, like I did for John Dunn, Heart of a Zulu. What is surprising is that I am finding typos. I thought I had those corrected last time I read through it. But again, those pesky typos...they have a way of hiding. I won't be surprised as careful as I am, that there are some I'm missing this time too.

But it will be the fourth time I send a corrected manuscript to Dana, which is better to do it now, than after she's got it on the publishing rack. I'm making the most of my time, that's for sure. I'll just tell her that while I'm waiting, I'm making it better. Who could argue with that? I've already learned from experience, you make it better while you have the chance. And that's what I'm doing. Going by experience. The more experience you have at something, the better you get at doing it.

Waiting For Edits

Again, it's like I'm in Limbo. My two latest books, John Dunn and Second Chance are in queue to be edited. Until then, I'm reading through them. I've sent two later versions to my publisher since the one I sent to be edited. But the wait is ongoing.

As for John Dunn, that one is slated for a later release. So I'm reading through that one, and improving it while I can. And every time it gets better. That book just might be my best book. Not necessarily my personal favorite, but it's based on a true story, and books or stories like that are well received. Not to mention, the story is really a fascinating one. Like the old saying, truth is stranger than fiction. Or in this case, better.

But the waiting is a very trying thing. You are anxious to get going on it. And you are impatient. You want action. And you want it now. In the meantime, you just get as much done as you can. And every time, it gets better. That's what you want. Better. So until the edits begin, it will just keep getting better. Stay tuned.

Second Chance Submitted to KRP

My newest publisher Knox Robinson Publishing sent me an email requesting the latest version of my book Second Chance last night. I was glad they did, because it gave me another chance to proofread it, and correct any errors. And there were some errors.

It is inevitable for a novel length manuscript to have errors, even if you've reread it three times, which I had done. And the pesky typos have a way of hiding no matter how many times you read through it.

I found errors concerning a couple names, and those errors would have been glaring had I not caught them. And of course, I did locate and correct a few typos, in addition to improving some prose. So, yeah, it was a good opportunity to make the book better, and I did it in two days. Fortunately, I'm on Winter Break this week. So I started last night, after receiving the email, and finished this morning.

At 86,495 words, Second Chance is my shortest novel. Interestingly, my other KRP novel, John Dunn - Heart of a Zulu, at 123,000 words, is my longest. So KRP has both my shortest and my longest books. Interesting.

I emailed Dana again just a few minutes ago, inquiring about an editor. I'm pretty confident in the quality of writing, and the lack of errors/typos,. but, again, you never know. An editor really is necessary, because an author, being so close to his/her manuscript, just can't be sure he/she fixed everything that needs to be fixed. An extra pair of eyes is required, and sometimes it's better to have a second editor  to catch the things the first editor missed.

 In the meantime, Second Chance is scheduled to be released this summer, which is just in time for the football season. I'm hoping with football back, readers will be interested in reading a football story. And this football story hasn't been told. It came in a dream to me. That's why I was able to write it within a few months.

This photo is what I'll ask for as a cover. But the team in my story has dark green jerseys, not blue, and the number of the player is twenty-four, not thirty-one.

Can't wait until August. I'll keep you posted.

Killer Eyes to be Released

I just approved the cover spreads for the new Killer of Killers cover design and the soon to be released Killer Eyes. The cover spread is the front, back, and spine of the book's cover. I just had to make sure there were no typos in the copy, and there weren't. It's a lot easier to check for typos on a book cover, front and back, than checking for typos in the entire manuscript. Often you can have three people or more check for typos in a manuscript, and still there will be typos that somehow manage to sneak through and make it to the final print.

I read an article a couple days ago that publishers these days don't do as much copy proofing as they used to do in the old days of publishing. Nowadays publishers, even the Big Six, rely more on the computer and the 'spell check' apps that are part of the word processing programs. Too often those programs are faulty, and relying on them as much as publishers and authors do these days is really not a good thing. The old fashioned human eye, imo, is superior to the computer programs or apps. Yet, both will miss typos, and they prevail.

The closest I've come to having no typos in a manuscript is my book Killer of Killers. And that's only because I had gone over it more times than I can count. I read the first three chapters just last night, and they were perfectly clean. No typos or errors of any kind. I believe the entire manuscript of KOK is perfectly clean. I know I found some typos in The Vase when I read through that one after publication. Right now, I'm thinking Killer Eyes has no more typos. I'll check it again when I get the first print book which should be imminent. That will be the moment of truth in a manner of speaking. So we'll see.

Killer Eyes Final Edits Print Ready

This is a big day for me because I finally turned in my Print Ready edits for Killer Eyes, which is the file from which Melange will print the first book. The PDF copy, which had already been sent to me, had too many errors, (12) and then, after correcting the errors, Nancy, the Melange publisher, was wise enough to resend the file in a word doc that I could edit to fix anything that we missed before. And sure enough, there were four more errors. I fixed them, of course, as well as fixed an inconsistency that might have been criticized by reviewers had I not fixed it.

But it's all good now. I sent it, finally satisfied that all errors were fixed, all inconsistencies were taken care of, and all imperfect paragraphs were now perfected. I am so impressed with Killer Eyes, that I'm considering submitting it to those places that award books as the best this or the best that. You know, the "winner of the best fiction of the year" type of thing. The first book, Killer of Killers, is pretty darn good, too. I still consider it my my favorite book of all time, but truth be told, Killer Eyes is even better.

So, I can't wait to get Killer Eyes as a printed book. I think the process is I'm supposed to read it, and then I'll have one more chance to see if there's anything wrong. I don't expect to find anything, but you never know. Once that's been taken care of, then Killer Eyes will be officially released. Can't wait.